Thy Kingdom
Come!
by Doug Fortune
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
We
have prayed that so many times, as most of us learned it when we were young. I
wonder if we really understand the impact of these words, which I believe are
some of the most potent in all of Scripture.
Join
me as I ponder and allow me to muse a bit here. In that prayer, we are dealing
with two seemingly diametrically opposed dimensions- heaven and earth. Paul
even uses the analogy of heaven and earth to describe two opposite natures- the
first man (Adam) and the second Man (Christ). "The first man [was] from
out of earth, made of dust (earthly-minded); the second Man [is] the Lord from
out of heaven. Now those who are made of the dust are like him who was first
made of the dust (earthly-minded); and as is [the Man] from heaven, so also
[are those] who are of heaven (heavenly-minded)." (1 Corinthians 15:47-48
Amplified Bible)
Earth
speaks of that which is finite, heaven speaks of that which is infinite. The
earth speaks of chaos; "And the earth was without form, and void..."
(Genesis 1:2) Heaven speaks of order, as it is referred to as a Kingdom;
"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is
likened unto..." (Matthew 13:24) And yet God created these two seemingly
diametrically opposed dimensions- heaven and earth; "In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Interestingly enough, God
looked at this seeming contradiction and considered it was good! "And God
saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good..."
(Genesis 1:31)
In His Image
It
would seem that heaven provides "spirit", and earth provides
"form"... allow me to explain. We know that "God is a
Spirit..." (John 4:24) (the "a" is not really in the text) and
that He is "Our Father which art in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9). So God,
who is spirit and is in heaven, spoke to Himself and said, "Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26) If God, who IS
spirit and is IN heaven made a man in His image, then this man would be a
heavenly spiritual man, would he not?
Also
consider Genesis 1:27, as it says "So God CREATED man in his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and female created he them." God
CREATED this man in Genesis chapter 1. However when we come to Genesis 2:7 it
states that, "...the LORD God FORMED man of the dust of the
ground..." The meaning of this word "formed", yatsar in Hebrew,
is "through the squeezing into shape", to mould into a form
especially as a potter. So the man that was CREATED in Genesis chapter 1 was
created from SPIRIT, and the man that was FORMED in Genesis chapter 2 was
formed from the EARTH. Father creates in spirit before things manifest in the
earth. I believe that Adam had the potential to be the perfect union of the
Spirit Man and the earth man, however we find that he, through sin, became the
earthly carnal man.
Before
Adam ever had an opportunity to transgress, in His sovereignty and perfect
timing, Father already had a "convergence" planned to remedy this
unfortunate situation. Let us read about it; "But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..."
(Galatians 4:4), "...God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh:" (Romans 8:3) This is perhaps the epitome of
things seemingly diametrically opposed- Father's own Son, yet in the likeness
of sinful flesh. Jesus the Christ was the perfect convergence of the Spirit Man
and the earth man. His was the Life in which heaven and earth converged, and
this "convergence" happened precisely when the fullness of the time
was come.
May
I submit to you that in His sovereignty and perfect timing Father has another
"convergence" planned? We can read about it in Ephesians 1:10, " [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the
climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in
Christ, [both] things in HEAVEN and things on the EARTH."
(Amplified Bible) Just as heaven and earth converged in the Life of His
begotten Son, so it shall converge again in the Life of a Corporate Son, as He
is "...bringing many sons unto glory..." (Hebrews 2:10) This
"convergence" in the Life of a Corporate Son will in turn bring forth
a "convergence" of global proportion that will manifest in the
natural realm, thus affecting all of creation.
And
how, you ask, will all this come to pass?.... It will be the direct fulfillment
of the cry, "Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven!" (Matthew 6:10) Words act as
containers, and contained within the words of this potent prophetic decree is
the spiritual substance that shall bring it to pass in its' fullness!
Kingdom of God
So,
what does this mean?..."Thy kingdom come." Obviously it speaks of HIS
Kingdom, and the Kingdom is simply an extension of the identity of the King.
The word translated as "kingdom" is basileia in Greek. Thayer's Greek
Lexicon includes this definition: 1) royal power, kingship, dominion, rule; 1a)
not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to
rule over a kingdom. It is important to understand the latter part of that definition.
Many in Christendom today are looking for a literal Kingdom, the New Jerusalem,
to somehow fall from the sky. Perhaps we have seen a few too many science
fiction movies? (smile)
The
Kingdom of God is the power, the dominion, the right and authority to rule over
a kingdom; and the Kingdom is IN the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is IN us!
"For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and
peace, and joy IN the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14:17) "Neither shall they
say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is WITHIN
you." (Luke 17:21)
So
when we pray, "Thy kingdom come!", we must not be looking for some
abstract external event. We must understand the the way the Kingdom has
entrance into this natural earthly realm is THROUGH US!
The
word translated as "come" in the phrase "Thy Kingdom come"
is erchomai in Greek. Its' meanings include- to accompany, appear, bring, come,
enter. As I looked through the frequent usage of this word in the New
Testament, it seemed to be used mostly in the context of "persons"
coming, appearing, entering; it is used much less frequently in the context of
"things" coming. This confirms the idea of the Kingdom
"coming" or "appearing" because the Kingdom is essentially
an extension of the identity of the King. The Kingdom is not so much a
"thing" as it is a Person... the Person of Christ the King! Perhaps
one fulfillment of the prayer, "Thy kingdom come!" might be found in
1 John 4:17, "...as HE (Christ, the Kingdom) IS, so are WE (appearing) in
this world."
Thy Kingdom COME!
It
is also important to note that erchomai in Greek is used only in the present
and imperfect tenses. Bear with me for a quick but relevant grammar lesson. The
present tense is INTERNAL, that is, it portrays the action from the inside of
the event without regard for beginning or end. It is sometimes called
progressive. It basically represents an activity as in PROCESS or in progress.
Like the present tense, the imperfect tense displays an internal aspect. This
contrasts with the aorist tense, which portrays the action in summary. For the
most part, the aorist takes a snapshot of the action while the imperfect (like
the present) takes a motion picture, portraying the action as it UNFOLDS.
This
speaks volumes as it confirms the INTERNAL and progressive PROCESS of the
UNFOLDING revelation of Christ (the Kingdom) within US! Let our urgent cry be,
Thy Kingdom COME!
We
also have a poignant prophetic picture in Acts 1:11; "Which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so COME (erchomai) in like manner as ye
have seen Him go into heaven." In a literal picture, here we find Jesus
the Christ RISING UP from the EARTHLY natural realm, ascending into the
HEAVENLY realm. Now shift with me into the spiritual significance of this
prophetic picture. The promise was that He shall so COME (erchomai) in like
manner. I believe that Father is preparing a people in which the character and
nature of Christ is RISING UP causing us to ascend from life lived from the
EARTHLY natural realm, into a Life that originates from the HEAVENLY realm.
"And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod
of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne."
(Revelation 12:5) The net effect of Jesus ascending to heaven was that His
Spirit was released into the realm of the earth. The net effect of our
ascending into a Life that originates from the heavenly realm, is that HEAVEN
will be released into the realm of the EARTH. "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come (erchomai). And let him that heareth say, Come!
(erchomai)..." (Revelation 22:17)
So
we have seen that the Kingdom "coming" is not so much an abstract
external event, as it is an internal and progressive process of the unfolding
revelation of Christ (the Kingdom) within a people. Now let us move to the next
part of the verse; "...Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven."
To be continued.....
Doug Fortune
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